Chapter-06 · EP-091

Episode 91: River Crab

As I followed the stream upstream, something suddenly burst out of the water.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

It moved sideways at incredible speed and stopped right in front of me.

The monster before me looked exactly like a river crab. But it was huge. About the size of a robotic vacuum cleaner. It raised both its claws, threatening me. With its arms spread, it looked even bigger than a robotic vacuum.

I raised my wooden sword and watched it. But the crab didn't attack. It just kept threatening, moving sideways back and forth.

Reluctantly, I decided to attack first.

I struck its head with my wooden sword. Clack! A hard sound. Its shell was tough.

The crab tried to grab my wooden sword with its claws. I quickly pulled it back. The crab waved its claws about but didn't come toward me.

So I attacked again. Another clack. The crab reacted the same way but didn't attack me directly. It didn't advance. It just kept moving sideways, trying to keep me at bay.

After several exchanges like this, the crab scuttled sideways back into the stream and escaped.

I stood there dumbfounded, then came to a conclusion.

That guy could only move sideways.

It was tough and hard to defeat, but if I kept my distance and stayed in front of it, it probably wasn't anything to fear. The inscription said "Watch out for the river crabs," so I'd been on guard, but it wasn't as dangerous as I'd expected.

By the way, what was the name of that monster? I asked Meiris.

'It is a River Crab. The English name is Japanese Freshwater Crab, but since it is a Japanese endemic species and the giant river crabs found in dungeons have also only been confirmed in Japanese dungeons, the Japanese name "River Crab" is used as is.'

"So the official monster name is just 'River Crab'…"

I thought they could have come up with something cooler, like Giant River Crab or Crimson Crab.

I continued further upstream along the stream. Another river crab appeared, but I avoided it by staying out of its front. It didn't chase me.

After a while, I came to an open area.

There was an inscription.

"When harvesting antidote herbs, only take the new shoots. If you pull them out by the root, they won't regrow."

Antidote herbs. The medicinal herb that Yamashita-san mentioned, which Saito-san used to harvest.

I looked around. But as far as I could see, the ground was bare earth, and there were no plants. Not even dead grass.

"Meiris, do you have a picture of an antidote herb?"

'Yes. Displaying it now.'

On my smartwatch appeared a plant with dark green leaves. The leaves were slightly serrated, and the plant was perhaps about twenty centimeters tall.

But there were no antidote herbs anywhere in sight.

Perhaps this was the place that had been overharvested.

Saito-san must have placed inscriptions here to guide people coming to harvest antidote herbs, warning them of the dangers along the way. "Watch out for pitfalls," "Watch your head," "Watch out for river crabs" – all of them were meant to safely guide the herb harvesters.

But now that the antidote herbs were gone, only the inscriptions remained, pointlessly.

I felt a little sad. Saito-san's kindness was no longer of use to anyone. I felt I understood why Yamashita-san had that distant look in his eyes.

I stood there for a moment. I had never met Saito-san, but his character seemed to come through in the inscriptions.

Then I noticed another inscription at the far end of the clearing.

What did this one say? I approached it.

"Watch out for spider webs ahead."

Ahead? Wasn't this the end?

Was there still something beyond here? I'd thought the antidote herb field was the destination, but apparently not.

I looked in the direction the inscription pointed. A narrow path continued between the trees.

I was curious. Should I go?

But spider webs… I hadn't heard of spider-type monsters on the fourth floor. Were they just ordinary spider webs, or was there some other danger?

I hesitated for a moment, but after coming this far, turning back seemed a waste. I had antidote, and I had a Cure Potion. If anything happened, I could just run back.

I made up my mind and decided to go ahead.